Lavender Jelly

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup dried edible lavender flowers
• 1 lemon, juice of
• 1 (1 3/4 ounce) box dry pectin or 1 (3 ounce) envelope liquid pectin
• 4 cups sugar

Recipe

• 1 in a large saucepan over high heat bring water just to a boil.
• 2 remove from heat and stir in dried lavender flowers. cover and let steep for 20 minutes.
• 3 after 20 minutes, strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a deep kettle or pot, discarding the lavender flowers.
• 4 stir in lemon juice and pectin; continue stirring until the pectin is thoroughly dissolved.
• 5 over high heat, bring the mixture to a hard rolling boil (a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down).
• 6 add sugar. when the jelly solution returns to a hard rolling boil, let it boil for 2 to 4 minutes (see below), stirring occasionally.
• 7 boil times:.
• 8 2 minutes - soft gel.
• 9 4 minutes - medium gel.
• 10 testing for "jell" (thickness - i keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. if it thickens up to the consistency i like, then i know the jelly is ready. if not, i mix in a little more pectin (about 1 teaspoon to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute.
• 11 after boiling, transfer the jelly into hot sterilized jars. fill them to within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them.
• 12 process in a water bath for 10 minutes. remove jars to wire rack and let cool before serving.
• 13 makes five 1/2 pints.